Pokedex: Alola Edition
by Birdboy
Summary: A drabble collection featuring Alolan forms, based around the sort of lore you might find in an expanded version of the pokedex. Side collection to Pokedex.
1. Alolan Rattata

The ancestors of Alolans occasionally blamed themselves for the ecological catastrophes that followed their arrival in virgin lands, and more often developed an elaborate mythology based on corruption and divine curses that forced them to explore the seas. In reality, the culprit was a small, black-furred pokemon, which they unwittingly carried in their canoes en route to settlement of new islands, inevitably to escape the destruction which the Pacific Rattata had wrought upon their prior homes.

Once they reached Alola, Rattata ate the Alolan Swellow's eggs to extinction, and nearly did the same to the Oricorio. They were able to feast on ecologically naive species long enough to develop a metabolism, and an appetite, unparalleled among rodent pokemon. And once flying pokemon in Alola adapted to their presence or were eaten to extinction, Alolan Rattata were forced to find a new source of food.

Rattata are traditionally solitary pokemon, which is perhaps why Alolan authorities missed the signs of increasing cooperation which led up to the Granary Raid, and ultimately to the Great Rattata Famine. The guards – a few half-asleep soldiers with weapons, plus a Meowth or two – had been posted to deter the odd pokemon sneaking in, and were wholly outmatched by the Rattata horde which gorged themselves on the year's harvest.

After this disaster, Kahunas learned to disperse their food supplies, so that no single Rattata raid could mean famine. Some even imported Yungoos in an ill-fated effort to combat them, for while Yungoos occasionally clashed with Rattata, they also competed with them for food, leaving many Rattata no choice but to take from humans. Alola still does not produce enough food to match the seemingly infinite appetites of its Rattata population, and many a supermarket or kitchen is emptied even today by a pack of hungry Rattata.


	2. Alolan Raticate

It is admittedly true that, at least among humans, Alola is a peaceful land free from the sort of criminal gangs that plague lands from Kanto to Kalos. Yet Alolan restaurants are less happy about this than one might reasonably imagine, for they, too, pay a sort of protection tax (still collected in kind, long after the rest of the economy adopted money) to stay in business.

The custom of the Rattata or Raticate tax (for it is commonly called the former, but keen observers associate it with the latter) is perhaps as old as the first Alolan restaurant, or at least the first few owners to realize that, if they laid out an entree for the local Raticate and its Rattata pack, said pack would leave the restaurant alone. What the owners (who could seldom distinguish individual pokemon) did not realize was that the position of the "local Raticate" was a fiercely contested role, and that, eager to preserve a reliable food supply, Raticate would have their minions viciously fight one another for that privilege.

Alolan Raticate themselves seldom participate in battles, not because of their inherent weaknesses (most notably against the pokemon type whose name is synonymous with fighting) but because, like humans, they have other pokemon to do it for them. While they are powerful enough to defeat those Rattata or weaker Raticate who challenge their leadership, their large size and high metabolism leave them reluctant to expend the energy of a pokemon battle, and eager to discover techniques which require no energy at all. Although Alolan Raticate are often dismissed as lazy, stupid rodents, a pale imitation of their more fearsome relatives, they have proven clever enough to carve out a socio-ecological niche that elsewhere in the world is filled only by Honchkrow and Man.


	3. Alolan Raichu

Many contemporary biologists credit the strange form of Raichu found in Alola entirely to their diets of pancakes and Alolan berry species before evolution. Yet Alolan folklore claims the species arrived, not in the hulls of boats like Rattata, but from some distant land after surfing across the ocean. Corroborating this, rare Pikachu have been reported surfing outside Alola or even floating above the ground with the aid of hot air balloons, although these individuals are even more rarely capable of maintaining their abilities through evolution. Possibly, a climatic variance or a founder effect (after all, ancestral mouse pokemon, like Alolan Raichu and Marill today, were semi-aquatic piscivores) made the Alolan variant of Raichu an exception to this rule.

Alolan Raichu are more often found on the seas separating the region's islands than on any individual isle, surfing Alola's tall waves and showing off a dazzling array of spins and jumps as they hunt for Wishiwashi to eat. While pokemon around the world have indeed learned surf, it is no accident that the sport of surfing developed in Alola, in emulation not of a water but an electric and psychic pokemon.

The use of electricity in fishing is banned by international treaty, sparked by concerns about declining global fish stocks and the damage done to marine ecosystems by Chinchou and other electric pokemon. Alola was not an initial signatory to the treaty, although its government had pushed hard for earlier drafts, because it is a rare fisherman in the region who goes to sea without their Alolan Raichu. Thankfully, Raichu's psychic powers give it careful control of its electric attacks, and they damage bystanders no more than water-type predators – an argument Alolan representatives used to finally win a globally recognized exemption for this unique variant of pokemon.


	4. Alolan Sandshrew

Although the modern sport of Goal Roll has its origins in the urbanization and industrialization of Johto, there are reasons to believe its origins are very ancient indeed. The Alolan variant of Sandshrew can not curl up into a true ball, and Togedemaru is therefore preferred for ball sports utilizing pokemon, but a curious variety of games played in the towns around _M_ ount Lanakila are based on sliding Sandshrew across the ice.

Although the strength competitions, which slide Sandshrew down the mountain for distance, are best known, and hockey perhaps the most played internationally (although restrictions on the export of Alolan Sandshrew require the use of artificial Sandshrew, or "pucks"), another game is far more attested in inscriptions and references in historical texts. Insofar as we can tell, one player would stand at Lanakila's peak and attempt to slide or roll a Sandshrew down the mountain, while the other players would attempt to block it with their bodies or induce it to escape. Given the large numbers of Sandshrew procured for these events, it is evident these pokemon were not entirely willing participants in this game (and perhaps in others), but gravity and momentum often proved sufficiently strong forces to ignore their opinions on the subject.

The Sandshrew games likely originated to train warriors for the Lanakila chiefdom, for if one can accurately slide a pokemon as heavy as a Sandshrew, surely they could do much better at placing even a heavy, ancient pokeball. But it is likely that the leg injuries frequently sustained in these contests also sapped the region's military strength and ultimately led to the Sandshrew Slide's suppression. Yet echoes of this ancient competition can be found in the position of goaltender in hockey, and in the ever-popular custom of the snowball fight.


	5. Alolan Sandslash

Perhaps the best known incident of Alola's Age of Discovery was the so-called "Battle of the Sandslash", in which a squadron of explorer-pirates from Kanto, wearing armor made from Sandslash, seized the chief of Ula'ula Island's capitol and repelled an attack from ten times as many soldiers, each equipped with a sword made from Alolan Sandslash spikes or claws.

Remarkable as the clash of yellow and brown on blue and white must have been, pokemon played at most an auxiliary role in this battle, and living Sandslash do not appear on either side in the earliest accounts of the fight. It is only later generations, accustomed to letting their pokemon do most (if not all) of the battling, who have portrayed it as a battle between Sandslash themselves – first in artwork, where it was considered as a sacred fight for independence, and today on the broadcast of live pokemon battles, where any match between Sandslash and Alolan Sandslash (even if the competitors are of reverse citizenship) is peppered with references to that time in history.

Pre-contact Alola had only the barest semblance of an armor tradition, but the very invaders who threatened the region's independence had, by doing so, introduced them to the concept and demonstrated its power. Moreover, the Alolan Sandslash is if anything superior to its Kanto counterpart as an armor pokemon: its tough hide has been reinforced by metal, and its cool texture allows this armor to be worn in warm climates for prolonged periods of time. Indeed, no sooner did Kanto's shoguns recognize the region's independence than they dispatched another expedition – one loaded with valuable trade goods, and seeking only Sandslash hides in return.


	6. Alolan Vulpix

Alolan Vulpix is also known as the Beacon of Mount Lanakila, for Alolans hold that the mighty trainers and fierce yet powerful wild pokemon who fill the area were summoned there by its many Vulpix. According to legend, the snow of the mountain is not a natural phenomenon, but the cumulative effect of the concentration of Vulpix found therein.

There are those who suggest that wild pokemon are so fiercely protective of Vulpix, rushing to the scene whenever one is threatened by stronger pokemon, because they know their collective efforts are responsible for the climate they so treasure. Yet many accounts attribute this behavior to the mystical powers of Vulpix itself, and suggest each tail carries within it a bond to a particular pokemon. Vulpix, similarly to humans, can supposedly claim teams of six protectors, like a massively enhanced variation of the SOS battle phenomenon.

Contemporary meteorologists do not regard the Alolan Vulpix as the source of Mount Lanakila's weather, which they consider a product of its height. Biologists do not even consider Vulpix a keystone species in its environment, and mountains and cave systems outside Alola, such as Kanto's Victory Road, have also been known to attract powerful assemblies of humans and wild pokemon. But those who have attempted to capture live specimens for further research have proven strangely unable to enter Mount Lanakila, capture a Vulpix, and escape alive. Most of what science knows about these ice-type pokemon comes from a combination of analogies to their fire-type counterparts in Kanto and a small number of Vulpix eggs in the possession of the Aether Foundation. It is difficult to resist the notion that modern Man does not know nearly enough about the Alolan Vulpix to casually dismiss Alola's legends.


	7. Alolan Ninetales

The people of pre-contact Ula'ula Island could not count on a typical guardian deity for protection, for Tapu Bulu is a wrathful god who spent most of its history protecting the island's wilderness from its human inhabitants. Yet they still sought a god who would bless them, instead of a demon to beg for mercy. Mountains around the world have long been associated with gods, from Groudon and Kyogre on Mount Pyre to the globally renowned shrine on Mount Coronet. So the people of Ula'ula island looked up Mount Lanakila, found its strongest fairy pokemon, and declared it their god.

Alolan Ninetales, admittedly, does not vocalize the same sound as the other guardian deities; poets and philosophers did call it "Tapu Keokeo", but the name never stuck with the public. Nor, as we now know, does it transform the terrain around it in the manner of Alolan deities – but the only place where they were found certainly has a uniquely icy terrain, and it was simple enough to attribute this condition to Ninetales. Ice Stones were only found high on Lanakila, which was only climbed during the Sandshrew Games, so pre-contact Alolans did not realize just how common Ninetales could be.

Although the cult of Ninetales has been abandoned in modern times, for Tapu Bulu finally became a friend to humanity, perhaps there was more merit in it than modern Alolans realize. Yes, Alolan Ninetales are related to Ninetales found elsewhere, but even fire-type Ninetales are impressively long-lived pokemon, known to hang around shrines and capable of placing curses and living for thousands of years. And do not Manaphy and Arcanine also have children? Perhaps Alolans believe so strongly that each island has its own god that they forgot the others in their midst, who tower above them all.


	8. Alolan Diglett

The most remarkable thing about the Alolan Diglett, as far as most biologists are concerned, is that it exists at all. The aggressive Yungoos and Meowth eagerly prey on these pokemon, and while historians are right to point out that both are introduced species, Incineroar and Decidueye were such a deadly presence in prehistoric times that the modern era must if anything be safer for wild Diglett. Even Alola's volcanic rock is tougher to dig through than the soil which covers most of the world's landmass. Although a great Dugtrio may be the World Pillar, this does not mean its descendants have successfully colonized every patch of dry land; Diglett are notoriously absent from Hoenn, Unova, and Kalos, yet have somehow made their way to these dangerous volcanic rocks.

The Alolan Diglett, of course, is no ordinary Diglett – unsurprisingly, for ordinary Diglett could never have lasted long in the wilds of Alola. Yet the three hairs on their heads which hold the key to their survival often fail to be noticed by the untrained eye (or at least the untrained foreign eye: early taxonomic works from Kanto describe only Dugtrio, like Raichu and Marowak, as possessing a separate Alolan form). The hairs are remarkably sensitive feelers, and evolution has taught Diglett to rely on their hairs as much as possible. They surface only when they are certain to be safe, often to humanity's chagrin.

For Alolans, at least in areas where Diglett are common, have learned the hard way to look carefully at the ground when they walk, lest they step on hairs with roughly the consistency of broken glass and sharp enough to slice through Tauros leather. Worse, this often prefaces a fall, for stepping on a live Diglett is no way to maintain one's footing!


	9. Alolan Dugtrio

Pre-contact Alola shined with golden walls, made from tough yet thin strands of Dugtrio hair. Alola has no native quarries, but the presence of Dugtrio long allowed its people, even before the age of international trade, to build from metal as well as wood. Dugtrio were (and rarely, still are) shorn by farmers like a metal, non-electrified version of Mareep, and much of the region's elaborate network of caves is believed to have originated as Dugtrio farms.

Foreign sailors, who viewed Alola from their ships, mistook the metal of Dugtrio hair which supported its palaces for actual gold, at least until they could hold it in their hands. Dugtrio hair, after all, is made from a surprisingly light metal. Once its origins are discovered, this fact is unsurprising: the Dugtrio which carry so much hair on their heads are no Machamp or Buzzwole. Alolan Dugtrio are twice the weight of their counterparts elsewhere, not twenty times or more.

Yet these aspiring conquistadors sought to conquer Alola before they had the chance to place their hands on Dugtrio hair. Although they were defeated every time, Alola, too, lost many fine warriors in the struggle. Even while the news spread of what Alolan "gold" was made of, Alolans began to value the newly accessed foreign metals in the same way that the world they were joining valued real gold. So they continued to tear down buildings made of Dugtrio hair, or at least to hide them behind grayer exteriors.

The Dugtrio farms were abandoned, with few reminders in the present day, and the use of Dugtrio in construction was forgotten even by most Alolan historians. Yet whenever Dugtrio feel too forgotten, they use their extensive tunneling ability to unearth yet another ruin: archaeological bonanzas covered in the hair of their ancestors!


	10. Alolan Meowth

Alolan Meowth were brought to Alola by that country's old monarchy, and judging by their behavior, they have never forgotten that fact. Despite a revolution over a century ago and the egalitarian _human_ society of modern Alola, every Alolan Meowth imagines itself as the royal pet, with the arrogance to match. Yet rather than being hounded out of the region as counter-revolutionaries, or reviled as grave dangers to the island's unique and often endangered flying pokemon, Meowth have seen their numbers explode in the modern era as popular household pets.

Meowth ownership in the monarchical period was restricted to the royal family and the families of the island kahunas, although as Alolan royalty used the metaphor of a family to describe a king's relationship to his subjects, small numbers would find their way into the hands of lesser nobles, or individuals famed for great deeds. Inbreeding of this tiny population produced the breed's distinctive grey coat and curved whiskers, and no more than thirty-eight were attested as ever existing at one time in this era; the average number was closer to thirty.

There is a certain mystique associated with the symbols of monarchy which often long outlasts its presence as a political system, to Meowth's own paradoxical benefit. The Alolan revolution did not denounce Meowth, but the sumptuary laws which restricted them to a tiny elite; rather than denounce these pokemon, they promised all would be free citizens, with a Meowth to call their own – and the Meowth population, freed from their historical constraints on breeding, rapidly expanded to match demand. Yet their new trainers, freed from the exactions of royalty, often found themselves treated like subjects by their own pokemon.

Perhaps the Alolan Meowth was Alola's true king of kings!


	11. Alolan Persian

The soft, bluish fur of the Alolan Persian is the most comfortable substance found in all of Alola, and was used to line the beds and carpet the floors of the island's royal palaces. This comfort was equaled only by the discomfort associated with receiving Persian fur blankets as gifts of the crown, for many who slept under them would never awaken, their throats slashed in the middle of the night by a Persian claw.

Although the odd Meowth granted by the crown would evolve over the course of its natural lifespan, Persian were so closely associated with royalty that the act of owning a breeding pair of these pokemon was considered treason _per se_ ; it is notable that the blue jewel on their foreheads is identical to those in the royal crown. Only a king or queen could gather enough Persian to gather blankets out of their shed fur, and remaining on the throne was if anything more difficult than ascending it; Persian are remembered as the trained assassins of tyrants, but many monarchs undoubtedly removed real threats to their power as well.

Accounts vary as to the method of assassination, for while Persian are elite hunters, it is unclear whether they could've used the scent of their own fur to stalk their prey, or to slay their victims (typically powerful nobles with many bodyguards) in the middle of the night. But it is hard to accept the legend that the claw itself, shed from its owner and hidden in the blanket, was the weapon of choice. Yet invariably, those awarded a Persian blanket went into hiding or fled the domain of the king in question, even in those rare occasions when a young and naive monarch only wished to share the comfort of their favorite pet's fur.


	12. Alolan Geodude

Alolan Geodude have long seen use on construction sites in their native region, because their small bodies and round shapes allow them to reach places which human workers and local fighting pokemon could not, their electricity allowed crews to work overnight before the advent of artificial lighting, and their magnetism allowed them to shape metal in a way not equaled by their more grounded international counterparts. Although Johto's Geodude population was already so high that one could not walk through its caves without tripping on twenty or so, the region's Emperor was so intrigued by the prospect of using the Alolan forms to build monuments that he imported a whole ship's worth as construction workers.

The Alolan Geodude present in Johto were indeed capable workers, but their habit of headbutting one another (and occasionally, an unwitting human as well) could not be broken by any managerial technique, and produced a unique challenge in Johto's densely forested environment. Not only did some headbutts miss the intended target and connect directly with the base of one of Johto's many trees, but the impact from one could knock another backwards, startling arboreal pokemon as surely as if the Geodude had targeted the tree itself. Whatever gains in efficiency the use of Geodude offered, alas, were more than made up for by the swarms of Beedrill or Heracross they provoked, which forced human and pokemon workers alike to flee.

Although this first experiment with international Alolan Geodude construction failed miserably, Alolan Geodude can be seen in Johto even today, most commonly when swinging along and repairing telephone lines after storms. This usage, which began when an embarrassed emperor sought for his expensive Geodude a project bugs could not disrupt, is today seen around the world wherever wires are strung – even in Alola itself!


	13. Alolan Graveler

The electrified avalanches of Alolan Graveler which roll down Blush Mountain have attracted a surprising number of researchers, despite the obvious dangers of hands-on study. Daredevil scientists from around the world come to Alola to study the region's Graveler and the rocks they consume, in search of a revolutionary new power source – one which they most commonly first come into (full-body) contact with before they ever arrive at the lab!

Admittedly, most electric pokemon are living batteries, and ongoing research on Venusaur seeks ways to power the world with solar energy; should they ever succeed, perhaps taxonomy would need to be radically revised, with grass and electric pokemon joined together. Alolan Graveler specialists have often put forth this species as an example of how pokemon change in typing in response to their environment, for their ancestors were immune to electricity! What role their change in diet played in this transformation versus the unique electrical conditions of their home mountain remains an open question, although the press and electric-type trainers have often been more interested in the question of whether ground pokemon can be overloaded with lightning.

Dangerous experiments continue to seek answers to these questions, and the Blush Mountain laboratory has itself often been compared to a new, more difficult level of the classic Graveler video games. Gamers, at least, could count on a hitbox in most cases slightly smaller than the Graveler itself, while scientists who never touch an Alolan Graveler can nonetheless be sent flying by stray sparks. Some have suggested these sparks are an act of kindness, for a Graveler moving downhill is no more capable of stopping itself than its victims are, and it is far less deadly to be thrown ten feet by an electric shock than to be crushed beneath a rolling Graveler.


	14. Alolan Golem

It is hard to understand why Alolan Golem are so fond of firing Alolan Geodude into the air, for using one's own young as a weapon seems at best an unlikely path to Darwinian fitness. There is probably no longer any benefit, only instinct, in this era when they live outdoors. Yet the ruins beneath Blush Mountain are as labyrinthine as Mount Moon, and archaeologists are broadly in agreement that Alolan Golem colonized every inch of it, and that their unusual means of doing so led to the cave complex's ultimate destruction.

Geodude around the world have always flocked to caves and high concentrations of this pokemon have troubled many a spelunker or pokemon trainer elsewhere; the difficult stratigraphy of the site suggests that Blush Mountain was no exception. What was unusual was that their Golem parents, powered by electricity, developed a weapon which Golem elsewhere lacked. When faced with overpopulation, they would use this weapon to blast their young through the walls, in the hopes of finding them a new, empty chamber to call home.

This behavior must have succeeded for quite some time in giving young Geodude new homes, for even today Alolan Golem will load their railguns with live Geodude if possible, and use the rocks so often depicted in scientific manuals only when no Geodude can be found. But the walls which supported the caverns were blasted apart faster than rock pokemon (including, at times, the same Golem who were shattering them) could build new ones, and in time the entire structure collapsed, leaving Golem rarer in Alola than anywhere else within their global range.

But the few survivors of that tragedy adapted well to the above-ground world, for they supplied and inspired the cannons that built an empire from Ula'ula Island and defended Alola's independence!


	15. Alolan Grimer

Alola is both a global tourist attraction and one of the most isolated places on Earth. Although a select few trainers arrive on the backs of their pokemon, the overwhelming majority of visitors arrive by boat or plane. Yet the fuel consumed by these vehicles has polluted Alola's harbors and coastlines, especially when accidents release a trans-pacific journey's worth of it in one place. So dangerous is the pollution to this famously beautiful land that the Kahunas of Melemele and Ula'Ula island imported Grimer from Kanto, in the desperate hope that they'd devour more poison than they'd create.

Although defenders of the program claim the new Grimer reduced the amount of garbage circulating around the islands as a whole, Grimer clearly failed at their primary task, as the beaches of Hau'oli and Maile city remain far too dangerous for swimming. Yet tourists once again flocked to those highly toxic ports, not to swim but to witness the rare beauty of the Alolan Grimer.

There is a certain appeal in the coloration of an oil slick, and a Grimer's whole body could be fairly compared to a stomach, with little distinction between what they are and what they devour. In Celadon City and other places around the world where they're born, Grimer are typically the grey color of industrial sludge, and only rare individuals eat enough fuel to turn a brilliant green. But in Alola, this is the typical appearance of the Grimer, along with a hint of a rainbow around the mouth which develops further after evolution.

One can find clean, sunny beaches anywhere, and the residents of Hau'oli and Maile will gladly travel to other towns to enjoy them. Their economies still boom with tourists, for only they can claim the presence of the Alolan Grimer!


	16. Alolan Muk

There is a curious legend, placed in surprisingly recent times, of an Alolan tournament attended by the world's gods. Although a team of guardian deities reached the final, the champion used no gods at all, but a team of mortal pokemon based around an Alolan Muk. So angered were the gods by the manner of their defeat that they cast a curse upon the tournament, and Alola, heeding their warnings, has held no tournaments since that day larger than the Island Trials and the Battles Royal.

In truth, politics always had more to do with Alola's longtime failure to host an official League than this etiological myth of a curse, although it is true that recent sightings of Tapu Koko and Solgaleo were treated by the Kahunas as divine permission to start the League, and that the former tried to assassinate the first champion after their victory. If pokemon competition in Alola is truly cursed, it was by a curse named "distance", one placed at the time of the archipelago's creation. But the Alolan Muk does possess the remarkable ability to shut off the unique abilities of many pokemon, using the noxious mixture of chemicals in its own body to reduce battles from contests of strategy to ones of raw physical strength. The famously bulky Muk and its carefully selected teammates thrive in these matches, which frustrate humans as much as they were said to frustrate the gods!

Muk has not dominated the Alolan League to the degree it has in the legends, for the pokemon trained by mortals are not nearly as frequently subject to the unique powers of its strange alchemy. For most mortal pokemon are gifted with a perhaps greater power, or at least one which counters Muk's own – a power named evolution!


	17. Alolan Exeggutor

Alola's warm climate and abundant sunlight has allowed the Alolan Exeggutor to grow to a truly fearsome size. Although most of the archipelago's natural trees have been felled for timber, it would be a truly brave person who attempted to raise Alolan Exeggutor for similar purposes, for their deceptively thin necks are as sturdy as the trunks of far thicker trees, but offer these pokemon immense reach with a deadly weapon.

Exeggutor Island is the only island in Alola with no permanent human occupation, but Poni Island's strongest and most courageous trainers occasionally venture there to harvest coconuts for trade. The Exeggutor see the island's trees as their brethren and the coconuts as akin to lost Exeggcute heads, and their heads point in every direction and tower far above the waves. An extensive ritual has developed around a flute and prayers to a nebulous island guardian, but it seems to do more to calm the harvesters' nerves than to calm the Exeggutors' wrath.

Ultimately, Alolan Exeggutor are wild pokemon, and there is only one reliable way to convince a wild pokemon you are worthy of collecting its kin. And for all their size and power, Alolan Exeggutor rarely appreciate an encounter with a well-trained ice pokemon. Most harvesters simply use their pokemon to distract the Exeggutor long enough to gather their coconuts and sail away, although they are not truly safe until their boats are out of reach of Exeggutor's necks, and some have drowned within sight of the shore or even been marooned on the island. Yet the few to defeat and capture Exeggutor have won themselves a mighty pokemon, for no sight in the history of Alolan warfare is more terrifying than a warrior holding a lance while riding on the back of a charging Exeggutor!


	18. Alolan Marowak

Cubone in Alola are orphaned, but they do not share the isolation of their international counterparts, for their deceased mothers have learned a way to visibly watch over their children. Alolan Marowak can not hold their children, but their warm flames and occasional appearance of astral bodies remind the Cubone that they are not alone. Should danger ever approach one of these lone, young pokemon, an Alolan Marowak will appear from nowhere to protect its only same-sex child (for Cubone in Alola are always twins, one male, one female) and ensure it will live long enough to evolve and have children of its own.

Yet sadly, Cubone in Alola barely live long enough to see their cubs before evolving and perishing themselves. With only grandchildren in the world of the living, Alolan Marowak struggle to maintain a connection to the world, their spirit reduced to a flame that comforts the ghosts of their children and serves as the primary weapon protecting their grandchildren. Only when their grandchild, too, passes away can an Alolan Marowak move on, confident that its lineage will survive.

It is perhaps remarkable that, although war, revolution, and simple infertility has led to the extinction of many of Alola's great families, nearly every piece of Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA known from ancient Cubone graveyards is attested in modern populations. Some have suggested that Marowak love their families more than Men do, and a few worried old houses have even adopted the Alolan Marowak as a symbol for that very reason. Yet in truth, the distinction is that a wealthy human or pokemon family can have many children to replace the dead, while every Cubone who dies young drives the Alolan Marowak one step closer to extinction.

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This concludes the Alola Edition of Pokedex. I'd like to thank Vethica for beta reading all of these, along with both kokocarina and the /vpwt/ discord for helping me with brainstorming, and everyone who's reviewed, favorited, or even read this for motivating me along the way. See you whenever I have enough to go on to write Meltan and Melmetal, and then again in gen 8!


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